Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Specter of Death- Part 15

“When you dropped her off, did you notice anything
unusual or out of place, Detective,” Captain Hanson asked.

Once Kim had identified the
victim as the mayor’s niece, the officers on site called their captain
immediately. Since Hanson arrived before his detective, he had been double and
triple checking everything in Kenj’s apartment. He wanted answers immediately—not
next week, not tomorrow, now. The captain’s tone combined with too little sleep
set Detective Marie McDonald’s teeth on edge. Before she could hold her tongue,
angry words dripping with sarcasm hissed through her teeth.

“Don’t you think if I’d noticed anything unusual I would
have stuck around, Captain? I’m not in the habit of abandoning injured,
defenseless, women in a dangerous situation. And I certainly wouldn’t serve up
the mayor’s niece to a serial killer.”

“I’m going to assume it’s grief over losing a colleague that
has you shooting off your mouth like that,” Captain Hanson growled. “Consider
this your one and only pass because you are this close to being written up for
insubordination.”

Hanson held his hand up to
Detective McDonald’s face and pinched together his thumb and forefinger until
they were nearly touching. It took every ounce of self control not to tell the
captain where he could stick those fingers but she managed. What I wouldn’t give to knock that smug
smile off his face, permanently, her inner voice ranted. Rage boiled from
the depths of her core and bubbled until Detective McDonald had to walk outside
to get some air. She heard the door behind her open and seconds later a warm
hand rested on her shoulder.

“Are you okay,” Kim asked. “In all the years we’ve worked
together, I’ve never seen you so furious. I seriously thought you were going to
take a swing at Hanson.”

“To tell you the truth,” Marie answered. “I don’t know
what’s wrong with me. The rational side of my brain keeps telling me Captain
Hanson didn’t mean anything by his question but I could feel myself seething in
anger. No, not even anger … it was rage. I felt like I could have ripped him to
shreds with my bare hands so I came out here to cool down.”

“That’s not like you at all,” said Kim. “Listen, if you
need to talk or—”

“No! I don’t need to talk. I need you to do your job.
Find me something so we can catch the bastard already. In case you forgot, we’ve
got a flipping serial killer on the loose,” Marie interrupted.

Puzzled, Kim walked away
leaving the detective to her thoughts. Something’s
not right with her. We’ve worked together for a long time and she’s never acted
like this, she thought. I think I’ll
wait for a better time to tell her what Billy said about their Ouija séance.
She’s ready to snap as it is. I’ll just get the body and take it back to the
morgue.

Though Kim was used to working on her own,
she’d grown fond of Kenj and enjoyed having the company. The morgue felt cold
and lonely minus Kenj’s cheerful chatter. Unzipping the body bag, Kim looked
down at her colleague and friend.

“I can’t believe you’re gone,” Kim whispered. “Please,
let there be something here, some sort of hint where to look for this psycho.”

After the victim’s clothing was
bagged and tagged, Kim searched the body for anything that might give them a
clue. Skin cells and blood under Kenj fingernails had been collected and sent
to the lab for analysis. Next, Kim checked a swollen eight inch wound located
on the patient’s abdomen. Something
different from the other bodies, maybe it’ll help. With gloved fingers she
pressed on the swelling; something hard and pointed poked back. She reached
inside with a pair of forceps, and pulled out a piece of triangular shaped
wood.

Subscribe To

About Me

Horror Writer and Author of the "Journal of the Undead" series.
To see an excerpt of "Journal of the Undead: Littleville Uprising" go to the 6/13/13 Preview post under Archives.
Contact me at: leesg1023@yahoo.com
Follow on Twitter: @sg_lee_horror and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/SG-Lee/147919735388462